With immeasurable sadness, our family had to let go of my mom yesterday. She
died at 3:35 p.m., leaving a hole in my and many other lives that can never be
filled.

Thanks to all of you who have expressed kind thoughts on the subject of her
condition. She was a strong believer of the importance of community, and was
quite familiar with her identity here as MamaBlue, and she would have considered
the support so many have shown to be a fine example of the benefits of a
communal spirit. Likewise, my own thoughts are with the many of you who have
described your own families' struggles with illness -- you have my sympathies.

Finally, thanks to Frans for his help catching up on today's news. I'm sure
there are many questioning the need for me to jump back into this so soon, but
it's been a good distraction, and with a funeral this weekend I really wanted to
clear my plate to keep the backlog of news from being stressful and to
prevent it from getting any more overwhelming.